China: Cute pandas play in the snow in Changchun

The first giant pandas to be raised in a high-altitude zoo have been seen playing in the snow in China. Male Jiajia, eight, and female Mengmeng, seven, entertained the crowds by climbing trees and sliding around in Changchun, China's north-east Jilin Province.

The pair have been kept in the high-altitude conditions since moving to the zoo in July 2015, from a panda breeding centre in the Sichuan Province. Huang Zhi, assistant director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, said: "Both of them are now in a good condition, nothing abnormal has been found."

The pair will stay in the centre for two and a half years for research into panda breeding in cold conditions. Jiao Weiyi, director of the Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center in Jilin, said: "After they have totally adapted to our environment, we will establish a specific subject to research panda breeding in our area. That will be valuable for scientific research and also matters a lot in the study of the species' inheritance factors."